Cacophony over BJP song: SP threatens to move court in UP

LUCKNOW: In the political din of urban local body polls, nothing is music to ears. Not even th e songs that political parties have released for elections. One should not be surprised if this “musical mudslinging” between two main political parties in the state ends up in a full blown court battle as a defamation suit.
The Samajwadi Party is locked in a tussle with the BJP over a song released by it, targeting party president Akhilesh Yadav, by name.The SP has announced that it will file a defamation suit against BJP as the song “is not only a targeted attack on the SP chief but an attempt to vitiate peace and tranquility, and trigger unrest”.
At 9am on April 24, the verified twitter handle of the UP BJP uploaded a 4.27-minute video which was a spin on an SP’s election anthem released ahead of the 2022 assembly polls – ‘Janta pukarti hai Akhilesh aaiye’ (People are ready to welcome Akhilesh). Besides pointing fingers at Akhilesh – the son, the video talks of Muzaffarnagar riots, killing of Gaurav and Sachin, and holds the then CM, Akhilesh, responsible for it.
What appears to be a response to BJP’s move, the SP also released a three-minute song on Twitter, ‘Jo janata ko sataye hain, hum unko hatayenge’, to highlight theBJP’s failures.
While the BJP maintained a studied silence on the issue after releasing the video, the SP took exception to it and announced that it would file a defamation case against the twitter handle that first uploaded the video.
SP national general secretary Shivpal Singh Yadav, took to twitter to post an agitated response. “BJP has become a symbol of language that roadside goons use and has turned into a centre that trains on how to indulge in character assassination. Despite conspiracies and injustice, we will come out strong. Akhilesh … people want you to lead the state to prosperity,” he said in a tweet in Hindi.
“BJP is diverting people’s attention from the state of affairs of municipal corporations which have a BJP mayor. They know people will not believe them if they talk of waste management and promise to cut house tax. They will talk about everything except civic poll issues,” said senior SP leader Rajendra Chaudhary.